Man stabs female volunteer worker at Ishinomaki Red Cross hospital

A 47-year-old man in the tsunami-hit town of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted murder after he was seen by multiple witnesses attacking a 26-year-old woman with a knife.

The woman, a Red Cross volunteer worker from Kanazawa, was at a Red Cross hospital at around 3:40 p.m. when she was attacked from behind by the man, who was carrying a bladed weapon. She sustained an injury a few centimeters deep to her lower back. Her attacker then tried to flee the scene by bicycle, but was surrounded by onlookers who hindered his progress until the police arrived and arrested him.

Police said the pair were not acquainted and that the attacker's speech has been incoherent. According to medical workers, the woman's injuries are not life threatening.

May 19, 2011
07:22 am JST

Doesn't there seem to be an escalation in stabbings in Japan over the past few years ? Is this the new way to 'solve' all your frustrations and problems ?

Maybe it's the dismal economic climate. Stressful times tend to push people to extremes more easily. They just get burnt out and don't have the patience or emotional reserve needed for more civilized resolutions.

May 19, 2011
06:47 am JST

May 19, 2011
03:44 am JST

"Police said the pair were not acquainted and that the attacker’s speech has been incoherent
well well...we won't get its reason for the strange attack ..at this time...but attacking the "help" is retarded and ridiculus... it may discourage (by putting their lives at stupidities risk) more volunteer numbers to decrease in help .......

And I agree with Smythe "Still for a man to stab a woman is totally wrong in the mind of any man or woman."

but as in the past..it appears the keystones may be leveraging saving his face or Japan's by putting out in the media that the unsub's incoherence may be grounds for insanity indicating post traumatic related causes and effects...etc...

May 19, 2011
03:25 am JST

This is a bad time to so many in Japan & this is proof that the stress on some people has gone out of hand. Still for a man to stab a woman is totally wrong in the mind of any man or woman. I hope she recovers to the best.

May 19, 2011
12:06 am JST

So you're sympathetic towards the mentally ill until they they acutally act mentally ill. Then it's "lock 'em up for thirty years". Lovely attitude.

I have sympathy for people who have been traumatised. I've seen many of them in Tohoku. However, most of those people will suffer from depression - NOT viciously attack a poor innocent woman with a knife. Most mentally ill people do not harm others. That is why I believe this awful, dangerous man should be locked away indefinitely.

May 18, 2011
11:46 pm JST

May 18, 2011
11:26 pm JST

@BurakuminDesu

I won't defend this bloke - I think he should be locked away for 30 years in either a mental hospital or at the Emperors' pleasure - however I'd imagine so many people up the coast of Tohoku are mentally scarred

So you're sympathetic towards the mentally ill until they they acutally act mentally ill. Then it's "lock 'em up for thirty years". Lovely attitude.

May 18, 2011
11:16 pm JST

I won't defend this bloke - I think he should be locked away for 30 years in either a mental hospital or at the Emperors' pleasure - however I'd imagine so many people up the coast of Tohoku are mentally scarred from what has happened. Many will never recover. Japan is going to need thousands more professionally trained psychologists and counsellors in the next few decades I would think. The depression rates in this joint - already high - may really go through the roof.

May 18, 2011
02:23 pm JST

May 18, 2011
02:13 pm JST

Yes, it's got to be well nigh unbearable living in those evacuation shelters. Or, seeing that this happened at a hospital -- perhaps it was someone who seriously needed medication that he hadn't gotten recently. Would like to hear more. Good that the nurse was not badly injured, the last thing they need is violent attacks on volunteers.

May 18, 2011
02:12 pm JST

May 18, 2011
01:49 pm JST

I wonder things... things like, was this person one of the residents and has been there since the tsunami struck, or was he a relief volunteer? Could this be the start of a mental health "epidemic" as the stress of living for months in a disaster zone builds? I wonder...

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